Bobby Keys Makes Me Anxious

by Lee McAlillyFebruary 03, 2014

I recently read Bobby Keys' autobiography Every Night's a Saturday Night and I was just worried about him the whole time. Worried he was gonna run out of money or overdose or break a limb. With just about every story he tells I found myself cringing and thinking, "Bobby that's probably not such a good idea."

Take, for instance, the time on the '72 Stones tour when he filled up a bathtub with Dom Pérignon and a French model. He blew all his tour pay with that one move. The dude was not worried about the future. He truly lived in the moment. He lived like Keith Richards, except he didn't have Keith's money, and it just seemed like a precarious situation at all times. It's the source of his brilliance and his difficulties. But damn did the guy have great luck, and a ton of soul. I think it takes a life like that to be that great. You can't compromise or worry too much about how you're gonna pay rent.

Definitely check this book out if you're in the slightest bit interested in Exile on Main Street-era Stones, John Lennon's "lost weekend" in LA with Harry Nilsson, George Harrison's solo career, or just an authentic account of the early 70s rock-and-roll lifestyle. Bobby was on the inside, but it's a more unbiased account of John Lennon, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, Leon Russell and many more in their prime making classic records.

He sure as hell had an adventure along the way. Now he's back in with the Stones and leading the brass section on every one of their mega-jumbo tours they do these days. I just hope he's saving a little bit for retirement this time around.